Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I announce today the attachment of 1 Rifles to3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, from 1 April 2008, as a 4th Manoeuvre Unit. The battalion is due to form up in February 2007 following the mergerof the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry (DDLI) and the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry (RGBWLI).
	The addition of a 4th Manoeuvre Unit will give3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines more robust organisational and structural depth to enable it to contribute units simultaneously to current operations and to tasks that might arise in relation to other defence objectives. The permanent nature of the 4th Manoeuvre Unit grouping will enable the development of common doctrine and procedures, thus allowing it to participate more fully in amphibious operations as a secondary assault wave. This move will enhance the capability of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and achieve increased delivery of military capability. It also reflects the desire to deepen joint relationships between the Royal Navy and Army. The Army already provides combat support within 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines in the form of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery and 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers, and contributes to the combat service support provided by the Commando Logistic Regiment. There are clearly wider defence benefits as we balance operational capability across defence. The 4th Manoeuvre Unit role will provide challenging and varied' opportunities for an Army light role infantry battalion in 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines.
	1 Rifles will remain on the Army list under the full command of the Chief of the General Staff but serve under the operational command of the Commander in Chief Fleet and the commander of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. Regimental personnel will continue to wear the 1 RIFLES cap badge.

Lord Rooker: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Paul Goggins) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	On 4 September 2006, I launched a wide-ranging review of the effectiveness of the temporary provisions of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. This review formed part of the Secretary of State's statutory duty to have regard to progress made towards securing that membership of the police and police support staff is representative of the community in Northern Ireland and to consult with the Policing Board when making a decision as to whether these provisions should be renewed. This consultation ended on 27 November 2006.
	As a result of these temporary provisions, tremendous progress has been made during the past few years towards a more representative Police Service of Northern Ireland, with the proportion of Catholic officers in the regulars increasing from8.3 per cent in 1998 to 21.19 per cent on 17 January 2007. The number of Catholic applications to the PSNI has also been encouraging, averaging 35 per cent in each competition. Catholic representation among civilian staff also continues to rise. The percentage of directly recruited Catholic police support staff has increased from 13.76 per cent in January 2002 to 22.12 per cent on 1 January 2007 with the overall composition now at 16.99 per cent. There are a number of initiatives ongoing which will continue to improve this over time. An example of this is the proposed introduction of police community support officers (PCSOs) who will be civilians recruited under the 50:50 provisions.
	The Government are committed to continuing to address the religious imbalance within the police service and the St Andrews agreement makes it clear that the temporary 50:50 recruitment arrangements to the PSNI will lapse when the Government's target of 30 per cent Catholic officers has been achieved. For these reasons, and after looking carefully at the responses to the consultation, the Secretary of State has now decided that those temporary provisions should be renewed for a further three years. This will enable the Government to reach their target of 30 per cent Catholic representation in PSNI by 2010-11. That is why today I am laying before Parliament the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2007. There will be an opportunity to debate the order in both Houses of Parliament.